Wed July 29 - Fri July 31
I bid farewell to London this morning, taking a two-hour flight to Munich, home of Allianz Arena and our good friends, Sabrina and Bastian. For those who don’t know, Sabrina came to Australia and worked at the MCG as an intern for three months in the summer of 2006-07 and with boyfriend Bastian made an immediate impact on the MCC social scene. I was very much looking forward to seeing them again.
It did not take long to get into the swing of things. After landing at 4pm and being collected by Bastian, he proceeded to drive home, drop off my bags, hand me a large bottle of beer and it was off on the train to Allianz Arena for the AUDI Cup, the first night of a two-night soccer tournament between Bayern Munich, Manchester United, AC Milan and Bocca Juniors at the home of the 2006 FIFA World Cup final.
The trains to the stadium were packed and very hot. Once you alight (with bottle of beer almost completed), there is a 10-15 minute walk to the stadium, similar to walking from the Tan and over Rod Laver Arena bridge and ending up at the MCG, but probably longer.
We were body searched at the gate, which was an interesting experience! We then queued to get our Arena Card, a cashless payment system similar to a smart card concept we have been looking into for our members, except this does not link back to a central database and collects no information about the purchaser.
The idea of the system, introduced when the venue was built five or six years ago, is that the patrons top up their card upon arrival, and then simply scan it when buying food, drinks, merchandise or car parking (more on that later) and minimises queuing and cash handling. When I met with the CEO of Allianz Arena two days later, he declared it “the way of the future” and couldn’t believe we didn’t have it at such a big venue as the MCG.
After sampling the local brew (and a schnitzel of course!), it was time to meet the fans, as we took our standing room tickets almost behind the goal at one end – even though it is a standing area, there are seats too, so you can sit down but understand that those around you will stand and you may miss the action.
My beer and food was washed down with a haze of cigarette smoke that wafted around the venue as it seemed every second person was smoking in the seats. No smoking restrictions over here, so it’s like a trip back to the 1980s! Also, the segregation of supporters continued, while there was permanent netting behind the goals at either end to stop the ball going into the crowd.
There was a great atmosphere, as Manchester United won the opening match 2-1 against Bocca Juniors, with a crowd of about 61,000 in attendance. Sabrina joined us after work for the main game between the locals, Bayern Munich, and Italian giants AC Milan. The chanting and signing was just what I expected, with great passion from the home fans and a very catchy team song. Much better than Freo, heave ho, that’s for sure!
Bayern Munich beat AC Milan 4-1, scoring two goals in the last two minutes. So the local fans went home happy. Well, except those who then sat in the car park for the next hour…
Firstly, Sabrina forgot where she parked the car on the five-level, 11,000-space car park, which is similar to walking out of Chadstone before Christmas and having no idea where you parked. After finding it, we sat in the queue for ages as this rather poor post-game egress situation evolved.
Parking is paid for upon exiting the venue, rather than on arrival, and anyone who didn’t have €10 left on their Arena Card had to top up before getting out of the car park, which meant huge delays for everyone behind them. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise great night.
Afterwards, we met a friend of Bastian’s for a quite beer near their house, before turning in for the night at around 3am. Bastian departs for Greece in the morning, so it was good to see him before he left.
The next day was spent exploring Munich on foot, with many spectacular parks, monuments and quirky features, including an area of the English Gardens where men of all ages and sizes feel the need to “nude up” and lie naked in the park for the afternoon. Quite a strange sight, but none of the locals seemed to bat an eyelid!
Caught a late-afternoon train to Augsburg, about 45 minutes from Munich, for a night on the town with Sabrina and two of her friends, Toby and Yasmina.
Beforehand, I visited Impuls Arena in Augsburg, home to one of Germany’s second division teams. It is a new stadium that opened last Sunday and Sabrina is selling the corporate suites and signage space for the venue. There is a very steep walk up the stairs to the top of the only level of seating, which immediately reeked of a safety issue.
After dinner, it turned into quite a large night, which made the following morning’s obligation to catch an 8am train to Munich and two connecting subway trains to Allianz Arena rather daunting. Feeling somewhat seedy, I made it on time and was shown around the stadium by their marketing manager, before meeting with him and the CEO, Jurgen Moth, on a range of issues. It was most interesting to discuss their carbon emission targets, but I won’t bore people with that here.
Finally, it was out to dinner on Friday night with some of Sabrina’s university friends, for a very unique barbecue by the river – a lot like a barbecue on the Yarra, except the river here actually flowed, it is BYO cooking grill and you lay on stones and pebbles, rather than lush, soft grass. I must admit I was still not feeling too flash after the previous evening and faded pretty quickly. But the food was fabulous and provided another insight into how Germans live their lives.
Another late night and then early to rise to bid farewell to Sabrina (we’ll see her in September when she and Bastian come to Melbourne) and catch my nine-hour flight to New York City…
I bid farewell to London this morning, taking a two-hour flight to Munich, home of Allianz Arena and our good friends, Sabrina and Bastian. For those who don’t know, Sabrina came to Australia and worked at the MCG as an intern for three months in the summer of 2006-07 and with boyfriend Bastian made an immediate impact on the MCC social scene. I was very much looking forward to seeing them again.
It did not take long to get into the swing of things. After landing at 4pm and being collected by Bastian, he proceeded to drive home, drop off my bags, hand me a large bottle of beer and it was off on the train to Allianz Arena for the AUDI Cup, the first night of a two-night soccer tournament between Bayern Munich, Manchester United, AC Milan and Bocca Juniors at the home of the 2006 FIFA World Cup final.
The trains to the stadium were packed and very hot. Once you alight (with bottle of beer almost completed), there is a 10-15 minute walk to the stadium, similar to walking from the Tan and over Rod Laver Arena bridge and ending up at the MCG, but probably longer.
We were body searched at the gate, which was an interesting experience! We then queued to get our Arena Card, a cashless payment system similar to a smart card concept we have been looking into for our members, except this does not link back to a central database and collects no information about the purchaser.
The idea of the system, introduced when the venue was built five or six years ago, is that the patrons top up their card upon arrival, and then simply scan it when buying food, drinks, merchandise or car parking (more on that later) and minimises queuing and cash handling. When I met with the CEO of Allianz Arena two days later, he declared it “the way of the future” and couldn’t believe we didn’t have it at such a big venue as the MCG.
After sampling the local brew (and a schnitzel of course!), it was time to meet the fans, as we took our standing room tickets almost behind the goal at one end – even though it is a standing area, there are seats too, so you can sit down but understand that those around you will stand and you may miss the action.
My beer and food was washed down with a haze of cigarette smoke that wafted around the venue as it seemed every second person was smoking in the seats. No smoking restrictions over here, so it’s like a trip back to the 1980s! Also, the segregation of supporters continued, while there was permanent netting behind the goals at either end to stop the ball going into the crowd.
There was a great atmosphere, as Manchester United won the opening match 2-1 against Bocca Juniors, with a crowd of about 61,000 in attendance. Sabrina joined us after work for the main game between the locals, Bayern Munich, and Italian giants AC Milan. The chanting and signing was just what I expected, with great passion from the home fans and a very catchy team song. Much better than Freo, heave ho, that’s for sure!
Bayern Munich beat AC Milan 4-1, scoring two goals in the last two minutes. So the local fans went home happy. Well, except those who then sat in the car park for the next hour…
Firstly, Sabrina forgot where she parked the car on the five-level, 11,000-space car park, which is similar to walking out of Chadstone before Christmas and having no idea where you parked. After finding it, we sat in the queue for ages as this rather poor post-game egress situation evolved.
Parking is paid for upon exiting the venue, rather than on arrival, and anyone who didn’t have €10 left on their Arena Card had to top up before getting out of the car park, which meant huge delays for everyone behind them. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise great night.
Afterwards, we met a friend of Bastian’s for a quite beer near their house, before turning in for the night at around 3am. Bastian departs for Greece in the morning, so it was good to see him before he left.
The next day was spent exploring Munich on foot, with many spectacular parks, monuments and quirky features, including an area of the English Gardens where men of all ages and sizes feel the need to “nude up” and lie naked in the park for the afternoon. Quite a strange sight, but none of the locals seemed to bat an eyelid!
Caught a late-afternoon train to Augsburg, about 45 minutes from Munich, for a night on the town with Sabrina and two of her friends, Toby and Yasmina.
Beforehand, I visited Impuls Arena in Augsburg, home to one of Germany’s second division teams. It is a new stadium that opened last Sunday and Sabrina is selling the corporate suites and signage space for the venue. There is a very steep walk up the stairs to the top of the only level of seating, which immediately reeked of a safety issue.
After dinner, it turned into quite a large night, which made the following morning’s obligation to catch an 8am train to Munich and two connecting subway trains to Allianz Arena rather daunting. Feeling somewhat seedy, I made it on time and was shown around the stadium by their marketing manager, before meeting with him and the CEO, Jurgen Moth, on a range of issues. It was most interesting to discuss their carbon emission targets, but I won’t bore people with that here.
Finally, it was out to dinner on Friday night with some of Sabrina’s university friends, for a very unique barbecue by the river – a lot like a barbecue on the Yarra, except the river here actually flowed, it is BYO cooking grill and you lay on stones and pebbles, rather than lush, soft grass. I must admit I was still not feeling too flash after the previous evening and faded pretty quickly. But the food was fabulous and provided another insight into how Germans live their lives.
Another late night and then early to rise to bid farewell to Sabrina (we’ll see her in September when she and Bastian come to Melbourne) and catch my nine-hour flight to New York City…
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